The best walks and hikes around Hampigny

Another beautiful half-timbered church on the Route des Églises à pans de bois de Champagne.

The Saint-Jacques-et-Saint-Philippe church in Lentille is eye-catching with its timber-framed architecture and cob façades. It was built during the 16th century and was restored to its original appearance in the 1970s.

Saint Nicholas (Saint-NICOLAS), Bishop of Myra, to whom the half-timbered church in Outines is dedicated, is - along with Saint Martin - one of the most popular saints of all. Almost every child in Germany - and far beyond - is probably familiar with his day of remembrance, December 6th. On the eve of this day, the children used to put their shoes or boots - which were of course cleaned with great care - in front of the door so that Saint Nicholas could fill them with gifts that night. In more agricultural areas, it was also customary for children to provide a small donation of food for the donkey, St. Nicholas' riding animal (according to another tradition, it was a gray horse).

Brienne lies on the banks of the Aube river in a plain called la Plaine de Brienne. The Counts of Brienne dominated the history of the area for a long time. They were one of the most important noble families of medieval France and produced statesmen, diplomats and crusaders. Johann von Brienne (1169/74–1237). He was chosen by the French King Philip II as husband and regent for the heir to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. From 1210 to 1212 he was king of Jerusalem. He then became the father-in-law of the Roman-German Emperor Frederick II, with whom he became enemies and also fought against him as the Pope's general. From 1229 he ruled Constantinople for nine years. Brienne-le-Château became known as the training site of Napoleon Bonaparte, who studied here for five years (May 1779 to October 1784) as a boarding school student at what was then the Royal Military School. To complete his studies, he left Brienne-le-Château and finished it at the École Militaire in Paris. On April 3, 1805, he visited Brienne-le-Château again on his trip to Italy for the coronation, now already as Emperor of the French. On January 29, 1814, the Battle of Brienne was fought near Brienne, which ended with a victory for France under Napoleon Bonaparte against the Russians and Prussians under Field Marshal Blücher. Sources: Wikipedia

The Roman Catholic parish church of Saint-Georges in Chavanges, a commune in the Aube department in the Grand Est region of France, dates back to the 12th century. In the 15th and 16th centuries the church was rebuilt in the Gothic style. The Romanesque west portal of the 12th century church has been preserved. The arched portal is framed by simple archivolts that rest on slender columns decorated with capitals. Stylized leaves, birds and a kneeling person are depicted on the capitals. The nave has three aisles and is divided into three bays. Adjacent to the nave is a two-aisled transept, which opens onto a wide choir. This has three apses with a polygonal end. The grisaille window with scenes of the Apocalypse was installed in 1540. The motifs are largely borrowed from Albrecht Dürer's woodcuts of the Apocalypse, which he published in 1498 in his “Big Book” with the title The Secret Revelation of Iohannis. Source: Wikipedia

In southern Champagne, between the Lac du Der-Chantecoq and the lakes of the Forêt d'Orient, there are a number of half-timbered churches (Eglises en pans de bois) from the 16th to 18th centuries. Without exception, the churches are located in smaller towns that lacked the financial resources for a stone building at the time of construction. Today the churches are considered special historical witnesses that have been renovated in recent years. They are accessible to tourists through a “Street of Half-timbered Churches” that connects some of the churches. The Church of Saint Nicholas was built around 1600. Source: Wikipedia